Use of wild fish in aquaculture and its effects on income and food for the poor 405
of the bycatch that they would like to reserve as food – by paying a price higher than
aquaculturists could afford – and then put them on the wet fish market at subsidized
prices. In any such scheme, the transactions costs that would need to be incurred to
prevent subsidized fish from finding their way back to aquaculturists may turn out to
be substantial.
6.3.2 Employment and income generation
If effective, a prohibition to use bycatch as feed would lead to more bycatch being used
for other purposes such as raw material for cured products, fresh sales, etc. This would,
in turn increase employment. An effective stop to the landing of bycatches would
of course, lead to loss of employment in several post-harvest sectors. This creates a
dilemma for those who have to deal with the sustainability issues related to bycatch, as
the loss of the “bycatch” could run into stiff opposition in local communities, whose
needs for income and food associated with the bycatch are immediate and pressing.
6.3.3 Sustainability
The bycatch issue is a classic and well-known fisheries management problem. Various
technical measures have been developed to deal with it, but if they are not enforced,
and this is frequently the case in countries where bycatch is used as aquaculture feed,
then the bycatch problem remains. Also, bycatch is not easy to deal with by applying
consumer pressure (through labels of various kinds), as some parts of the bycatch
are composed of non-commercial species or of damaged commercial species, for
which animal feed is probably the best possible use. The transaction costs involved in
monitoring the flow of bycatch could be very high indeed.
It is quite evident that in many fisheries, and not only in Asia and Africa, bycatch
is a big and in some cases growing issue, and no matter how it is dealt with the poor
will be affected.
REFERENCES
ADB. 2005. An evaluation of small-scale freshwater rural aquaculture development for
poverty reduction. Manila, Asian Development Bank.
Ahamad, S. 2005. Prospects of utilization of low value and trash fish in Bangladesh. Paper
presented at the Regional Workshop on Low Value and “Trash Fish” in the Asia-Pacific
Region. Hanoi, Viet Nam 7–9 June 2005.
Bené, C., Macfadyen, G. & Allison, E.H. 2007. Increasing the contribution of small-scale
fisheries to poverty alleviation and food security. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 481.
Rome, FAO. 125 pp.
Chandrapal, G.D. 2005. Status of trash fish utilization and fish feed requirements in
aquaculture – India. Paper presented at the Regional Workshop on Low Value Fish and
“Trash Fish in the Asia Pacific Region. Hanoi, Viet Nam, 7–9 June 2005.
De Silva, S.S. & Turchini, G.M. 2009. Use of wild fish and other aquatic organisms as
feed in aquaculture – a review of practices and implications in the Asia-Pacific. In M.R.
Hasan and M. Halwart (eds.). Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture: practice, sustainability
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is grateful to a number of reviewers, former colleagues and friends for
providing information, advice and encouragement. Among them are: Cecile Brugère,
Simon Funge-Smith, Mohammad Hasan, Björn Hersoug, Andrew Jackson, M.C.
Nandeesha, Neil Ridler, Nanna Roos, Chandrika Sharma, Sena S. De Silva and Albert
Tacon. The author is especially thankful to Max Troell who sent the author penetrating,
extensive and constructive critisism on an early draft of the paper. The author is alone
responsible for any remaining errors and omissions.